The push and pull between remote, hybrid and office work has persisted since companies started to call their staff back in person.

Why it matters: Corporate employees and employers across industries have been in conflict over what style results in the most productive work, while allowing balance.

By the numbers: 32% of U.S. firms require full time in office for corporate employees, per the Flex Index Q4 report, which analyzes the state of flexible work.

• Over the past two quarters, the percentage of companies requiring three days per week in office increased to 28% from 19%.

Zoom in: Office foot traffic differs widely between cities.

• As of July, Miami and New York office visits were over or close to 90% of July 2019 levels, while San Francisco barely breached 50%.

Here are corporate RTO mandates across industries:

Tech and software

Amazon: Employees are mandated to return five days per week at the start of 2025, CEO Andy Jassy announced in September.

• Employees with an "extenuating circumstance" or with specific exceptions may continue to work remote or hybrid.

Apple: CEO Tim Cook ordered employees to start returning to the office three days a week in 2022.

AT&T: The company announced in December announced a policy that will require employees to work from the office five days per week starting in January, multiple outlets reported.

• Its operations have already been streamlined to nine core office hubs, per HR Grapevine, including Dallas, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle, Washington, St. Louis, and New Jersey's Middletown, N.J., and Bedminster, N.J.

Dell: The tech company told staff with just a few days' notice in September to return to the office five days per week, per Business Insider.

Google: Many employees ignored the company's request to work in-person three days per week in 2023, Axios' Emily Peck previously reported.

• Office attendance would be considered in performance reviews, chief people officer Fiona Cicconi told staff.

IBM: The company told managers they needed to either be on site three days per week or leave their jobs, per CNBC.

Meta: The Facebook and Instagram parent company ordered workers to return to the office three days per week in 2023.

Salesforce: Many employees returned for four days per week in October, per NBC.

Snap: Snapchat's parent company told employees they had 60 days to return to the office or leave the company, The Information reported.

X: Elon Musk in 2022 announced the end of remote work for the social media company after he acquired it. It became the first company in tech to force RTO, per Business Insider.

• CEO Linda Yaccarino attempted to motivate workers with incentives.

Zoom: The bastion of remote work ordered staff back to the office in 2023 for a "structured hybrid approach," per the BBC.

• Any employee living within 50 miles of an office was expected to work in person at least twice a week.

Finance

BlackRock: The world's largest asset manager called employees back to office at least four days per week in 2023.

Citigroup: The banking and trade company asked its 600 U.S. employees who were eligible to work remotely to return to the office full time in May, per Reuters.

Goldman Sachs: The company early on had a hard time enforcing its five-day RTO policy, per Business Insider. Leaders said they'd further crack down on attendance.

JPMorgan: In 2023, the company asked its managing directors to work from the office five days per week, per Reuters.

• The company said managers could include attendance in performance reviews and threatened "corrective action" for not meeting requirements.

Media and entertainment

Disney: CEO Bob Iger ordered a four-day work week in 2023 after retaking his job at the helm of the company.

Washington Post: The news outlet announced in November that all employees were expected back five days per week by June.

• Managers must be in full time by Feb. 3.

Transportation

Boeing: The aerospace company called all workers back to the office five days per week in early 2024, per CNBC.

Tesla: Musk in 2022 said that employees must work from the office at least 40 hours per week.

• "If you don't show up, we'll assume you have resigned," he wrote in an email, per Business Insider.

What we're watching: The workplace conversation is set to continue into 2025.

• 86% of CEOs said they will reward employees who come into the office, per a survey conducted by accounting and audit firm KPMG over the summer. 79% said they believe corporate employees will work in person over the next three years.
• Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy, who will lead the Trump administration's new Department of Government Efficiency, said they support requiring federal employees to work in-person five days per week.

Go deeper:

• Return-to-office mandates spark tensions as workers still want flexibility
• Whether you're back in the office may depend on where you live

Around 15% of Puerto Rico is still without power after a staggering "island-wide" outage cast the population into darkness Tuesday.

The big picture: The island has grappled with a faulty power grid and repeated outages for years, sparking frustration and protests.

• Energy company LUMA, which took over control of the U.S. territory's power transmission and distribution in 2021, said in a statement the exact cause of the New Year's Eve blackout remains under investigation.
• Early investigations pointed to a fault on an underground power line, the company reported.

The latest: As of LUMA's most recent update Wednesday morning, just over 85% of customers have had their service restored.

• The company reported Tuesday that power had also been restored to the Centro Médico and el Hospital Municipal de San Juan.
• LUMA initially predicted it would take one to two days to return power to every customer on the island.
• At the outage's peak, nearly 90% of 1.47 million LUMA clients were in the dark.

State of play: Puerto Rico's Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said Tuesday that President Biden and Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm assured the island it would have federal assistance in "continuing and speeding up" the reconstruction of its electric system.

• In a separate Tuesday post, Pierluisi wrote that he is "demanding answers and solutions" from LUMA and Genera PR, another company that handles private electricity production on the island.
• Governor-elect Jenniffer González Colón, who is set to be sworn in Thursday, wrote in a Tuesday post that stabilizing the island's energy grid will be her top priority once she assumes office.
• "We can't keep relying on an energy system that fails our people," she wrote. "Today's blackout and the uncertainty around restoration continue to impact our economy and quality of life."

Catch up quick: The U.S. territory's energy was privatized after Hurricane Maria ravaged the grid in 2017, leaving hundreds of thousands in prolonged darkness.

• Operational control was transferred to LUMA, in hopes it could help remedy the damaged system. But the challenges have persisted.

Go deeper: Puerto Rico's grim outlook

The newest generation — Beta — will see its youngest members be born roughly from 2025 through 2039.

The big picture: Many within the generation will live to the 22nd century. Even more than their nearest predecessors, this cohort's experience will be defined by unpredictable technological advancements and climate crises.

• It'll be the second generation besides Alpha — whose births span from about 2010 through 2024 — born entirely in the 21st century.

State of play: Projected to reach about 2.1 billion people, Beta would be the second largest cohort following Alpha's 2 billion, per Mark McCrindle, a social researcher and demographer who coined "Generation Alpha" and determined its bounds.

• By 2035, the age group will make up 16% of the global population, according to McCrindle, who founded Australia-based McCrindle Research.

Yes, but: We don't know what's entirely in store for the Betas.

• Specific boundaries between generations become more clear as each cohort grows up, said Jean Twenge, the author of "Generations: The Real Differences Between Gen Z, Millennials, Gen X, Boomers and Silents — and What They Mean for America's Future."
• "Technology is what really causes the differences between the generations," she said.

The intrigue: Generative AI is defining the moment the Betas enter the world. Ultimately, their lived experience will be determined by what sticks and how.

• The tech that shapes social relationships ends up having the biggest impact on an age group, Twenge said. With Gen Z, that was social media, and for Gen Alpha, it's "virtual worlds" like Minecraft or Roblox.
• If generative AI becomes so ingrained that young people with "AI friends and AI boyfriends and girlfriends" becomes widespread, "that could have an enormous impact on social development," she said.

Between the lines: This might also come with more tech legislation and regulation. The European Union has enacted tighter rules that have led to policy changes at major tech firms, Axios' Ina Fried previously reported.

• Meanwhile, U.S. legislators have been working to pass the Kids Online Safety Act for more than a year.
• TikTok could also be banned in the U.S. in less than a month after Congress and the White House passed a bill that will force the popular platform's Chinese parent company to divest from its U.S. operations or face a ban.

What we're watching: Misinformation, disinformation and the adverse outcomes of AI are projected to be some of the top global risks over the next 10 years, the World Economic Forum predicted in January.

• Those followed climate, environment, biodiversity and natural resources crises.

Zoom in: Gen Z and younger millennials will mostly parent Gen Beta children.

• They're expected to be parents who recognize the volatility of the economy and focus on sustainability, both economically and environmentally.
• "Generation Beta will be shaped by parents who, in a lot of ways, lived through economic and social challenge," McCrindle said. "And that creates a resilience, a grit, an ability to respond to uncertain times but a conservative outlook — a desire to save, a desire to reuse, a focus on not just growth and ever more accumulation."

Zoom out: Gen Beta is also expected to witness significant demographic change within its lifetime as fertility rates fall worldwide and life expectancy increases.

• "As the Gen Betas are coming of age, the talk will not be overpopulation," McCrindle said. "It'll be population sustainability."

The bottom line: Governance, media, business and global geopolitics are undergoing massive upheaval, Axios' Jim Vandehei and Mike Allen recently wrote.

• Coming of age in this environment will, no doubt, shape the generation.

Go deeper: "A landmark generation": Introducing Gen Alpha

At least 10 people are dead and 35 injured after a man drove a pickup truck into a large crowd on New Orleans' Bourbon and Canal streets early New Year's Day, officials said.

The latest: The suspect died after engaging with police, the FBI said Wednesday. The bureau, which is now taking the lead, is investigating the incident as an act of terrorism.

• At least one improvised explosive device was found on the scene, said FBI New Orleans special agent-in-charge Alethea Duncan, and officials are "working on confirming if this was a viable device or not."
• More updates are expected from NOPD headquarters at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. local time.

The man drove down Bourbon Street "at a very fast pace," indicating "very intentional behavior [and] trying to run over as many people as he possibly could," New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Superintendent Anne Kirkpatrick said.

• Kirkpatrick said the man drove a pickup truck down Bourbon Street with "clear intent."
• "He was hell bent on creating the carnage and the damage he did," Kirkpatrick said, adding that two NOPD officers are among those injured.

What we're hearing: The scene in the French Quarter Wednesday morning was sleepy much like after any big night downtown, Axios' Chelsea Brasted reported from Bourbon Street Wednesday morning.

• But dozens of NOPD cars lined the streets around a cordoned-off section of Bourbon Street. Residents and visitors alike paused to peer past the police tape and wonder what was going on while local shops bars, and restaurants opened their doors for business.

Mayor LaToya Cantrell has been in touch with Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry and the White House, she said. Landry on X called the event "a horrific act of violence."

City officials warned people early Wednesday to "get yourself away from the area" as officials respond and investigate.

• The victims were transported to five area hospitals, NOLA Ready officials said: University Medical, Touro, East Jefferson General, the Ochsner Medical Center main facility on Jefferson and the Ochsner Baptist Campus.

Context: Downtown New Orleans is a New Year's hotspot, especially with college football's Sugar Bowl set to be played later Wednesday approximately one mile from the scene of the attack.

• Sugar Bowl CEO Jeff Hundley said the game's committee is in "ongoing discussions" with authorities and "will communicate further details as they become available"
• Vehicle-resistant bollards are typically in place during busy nights at the corner of Bourbon and Canal Streets, preventing drivers from heading down Bourbon Street.
• But officials do not block Canal, one of the city's trafficked thoroughfares.
• The driver, Kirkpatrick said, drove past barricades to get to the Bourbon Street crowds, but it wasn't clear from what direction he was driving.

What's next: All eyes have been on the city and how it handles large crowds as it prepares to host the NFL's Super Bowl in a matter of weeks.

Editor's note: This is a breaking story and will continue to be updated.

Losing weight in the new year won't take the same shape as it did in the past.

Why it matters: The emergence of groundbreaking new weight-loss drugs is transforming how Americans shed pounds.

• Nearly 18 million Americans are expected to be taking versions of GLP-1 drugs by 2029, according to investment bank UBS.

By the numbers: The drugs — which are currently administered in the form of regular injections — may already be reversing America's obesity crisis.

• In a survey conducted from 2021 through 2023, 40.3% of adults 20 and older were classified as having obesity, down from the all-time high of 41.9% from 2017 through 2020.
• The data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey has prompted observers to say that the U.S. may have passed peak obesity.

Threat level: GLP-1 drugs are leaving a trail of disruption throughout the economy.

• Companies like WeightWatchers are struggling to adapt as Americans rethink the concept of dieting. The company's CEO, who apologized for the company's past role in fostering a culture that shamed people for being overweight, recently resigned.
• Bariatric surgery is declining in popularity, prompting some health systems to shutter or cancel investments in facilities.
• Demand for treatments like hip and knee replacements could decline over time as lighter bodies put less pressure on joints, some experts believe.

Yes, but: Price and access remain significant challenges.

• List prices for a month's supply of GLP-1s range from about $936 to $1,349 before insurance, which often doesn't pay enough for people to afford the drugs, according to Kaiser Family Foundation research.
• Widespread shortages have prevented some patients from getting prescriptions filled, though the FDA has said the shortages are improving. Meanwhile, pharmacies are introducing compounded alternatives that critics say allow them to skirt regulatory review.

The big question: Will the U.S. government authorize Medicare to cover weight-loss drugs?

• The Biden administration in November proposed having Medicare cover the drugs beginning in 2026, but the Trump administration will have the final say.
• Opponents of Medicare covering the drugs say the federal budget can't handle the extra costs.

What to watch for: Whether the pharmaceutical companies successfully develop pill versions of GLP-1 drugs. They're currently under development, and the early results look promising.

Generative AI is providing personal style tips, translating family conversations, analyzing diets and transforming lives in countless ways, Axios readers tell us.

Why it matters: AI isn't only a workplace tool, and as it seeps into our lives, many are using chatbots every day to diagnose illnesses, mourn the dead or seek comfort when human companionship isn't available.

What's next: As we enter year three of the generative AI revolution, we asked readers to tell us all the ways they've been using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and other genAI tools — not for work but for everything else.

By the numbers: Recent research from Anthropic shows that the most popular use cases for the Claude chatbot account for only a small slice of how people use the tool.

• The top three ways people use Claude are for mobile app development (10.4%), content creation and communication (9.2%) and academic research and writing (7.2%).
• That leaves a whole lot of people using it for a whole lot of other tasks.

Fun fact: Axios' Maxwell Millington reports that "couples are split on whether it's acceptable to write their wedding vows with AI."

• According to Zola's First Look report for 2025, 51% of respondents are OK with the idea.

Style counsel

Auggie from Columbus works in AI and data science and writes, "Over the past year, I've started using ChatGPT as a personal stylist to get the most out of my purchases."

• "I share photos of the pieces I'm considering and ask questions like, 'What kinds of items would pair well with this jacket?' or 'Could I wear these pants both formally and casually?'"

Brainstorm buddy

Evelyn, a college student from Hingham, Mass., writes, "I use it to validate my brainstorms. If I have an assignment I will think about what I want to do and then when I decide I ask ChatGPT if it's a good idea or not."

Emily, who works in marketing in San Francisco, says, "I think what's been most useful about GenAI is having a thought partner."

• She says she used it to create a Golden Gate Park scavenger hunt for her niece, helping her find things kids like that she's unfamiliar with.

Felice from Marin county, Calif. says she is a visual learner and regularly asks ChatGPT to turn spreadsheets of numbers into infographics.

• "The infographic gives me a "snapshot" of a 30,000 ft view and then I can strategize based on the visual ( rather than rows of numbers). This is a 'first draft' of my thought process, so it is nothing I would bet the farm on; it is just a helpful general idea."

Scheduling assistant

Julian from Columbus, Ohio takes handwritten lists from images or screenshots and converts them into text.

• He writes, "My sister shared a printed schedule for my niece's basketball team, and I asked ChatGPT to analyze it and turn it into an .ics file. I then shared the file with my family so they could add it to their smartphone calendars."

Kitchen companion

Meg from Toronto, Canada says, "I've been using ChatGPT to take pictures of my meals and tell me how much protein is in it."

• She says she previously used paid apps and weighed all her food, but now "AI can do this with the snap of a photo."

C Davis from Phoenix, Ariz., writes, "I recently consulted ChatGPT regarding three different acid options (lemon vs apple cider vinegar vs sherry vinegar) for a fall salad. The advice was surprisingly nuanced and spot on — as if I had a chef on the line."

Joe, who is 73 years old, uses Perplexity AI to "find any food dish from anywhere in the world and have Perplexity convert it for the number of people I want to serve and give it to me in [a] guided recipe format."

Translator

Fadi from Lebanon uses genAI for parenting help for his 8-year old.

• "My son likes to hammer me with existential or puzzling questions when we're alone in the car," Fadi writes.
• Because his son doesn't speak English, Fadi will ask Gemini the question in English and tell it to reply out loud in French.

Berta from Sonoma uses ChatGPT's voice mode. She says that on her recent travels, "I could ask such random things like, I'm standing at the corner of X and Y in Barcelona, and on the second floor I see a mural. Please tell me the history of this mural."

• "We were traveling with people who were not fluent in English and I could ask Fernando [her name for her bot] to explain the information in French for our friends."

The bottom line: Most genAI evangelists will tell you that the only way to find your best personal uses for chatbots is to keep trying different things.

Puerto Rico experienced an "island-wide" power outage starting Tuesday morning that could last up to two days in some places, per grid operator LUMA Energy.

The latest: President Biden discussed the widespread outages across the U.S. territory with Gov. Pedro Pierluisi during a Tuesday evening phone call during which he offered any federal assistance needed, per a White House pool report.

• Biden directed Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm over the phone to continue to offer any assistance the Biden administration can provide to speed power restoration for people on the Caribbean island, according to the pool report.

The big picture: Nearly 90% of 1.47 million clients across Puerto Rico were affected by the blackout at its peak, per AP.

• Early investigation shows the failure of an underground power line, LUMA said.

State of play: Power was restored to more than 336,000 customers by 6pm ET. If conditions allow, power will be fully restored by Thursday, the company said.

• Power was also restored to the Centro Médico and el Hospital Municipal de San Juan.
• The outage started about 5:30am.

Zoom in: Puerto Rico's Gov. Pedro Pierluisi said he is "demanding answers and solutions" from Luma and Genera, another energy company.

• Restoration work was underway at the San Juan and Palo Seco plants, per Pierluisi.

Context: Puerto Rico's energy was privatized after Hurricane Maria in 2017 massively damaged the grid. Continuous grid failures have led to protests.

• In 2021, operational control of the grid was transferred to LUMA. In 2023, Genera PR was selected for private electricity production.

Editor's note: The story has been updated with the latest restoration information and details of President Biden's action.

U.S. cities joined millions of people around the world in New Year's celebrations ringing in 2025 on Wednesday.

The big picture: Countries in the Asia-Pacific region were the first to mark New Year's Day, with Auckland, New Zealand, the first major city to see Jan. 1, 2025.

Go deeper: Paid prenatal leave, child influencer protections, no taxes on rent: New 2025 laws

Editor's note: This article has been updated with more photos and details of New Year's celebrations around the world.

U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts warned Tuesday of "illegitimate activity" that he said threatened the independence of judges.

The big picture: Roberts outlined in his annual year-end report areas of concern including violence, intimidation, disinformation and "threats to defy lawfully entered judgments."

• The chief justice wrote that within the past few years "elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard" for federal court rulings.
• "These dangerous suggestions, however sporadic, must be soundly rejected. Judicial independence is worth preserving," he added.

The intrigue: Roberts did not name anyone as an example.

• However, the Reagan-appointed U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth spoke out against public figures who've tried to "rewrite history" by describing imprisoned Jan. 6 rioters as "hostages" after President-elect Trump and some of his allies described them as such.
• Meanwhile, President Biden criticized a Supreme Court majority decision that Roberts wrote, which ruled in Trump's Jan. 6 case that presidents have immunity for "official acts." The case was dismissed after the Republican leader won November's election.

State of play: Roberts in his report raised concern about violence against judges across the U.S., noting that in 2005 and 2020, "close relatives of federal judges were shot to death by assailants intent on harming the judges who had handled their cases."

• He noted that in 2022 and 2023, state judges in Wisconsin and Maryland were murdered at their homes.
• "These tragic events highlight the vulnerability of judges who sign their names to the decisions they render each day and return home each night to communities, where they remain involved as neighbors, volunteers, and concerned citizens," Roberts wrote.

Zoom in: "Public officials, too, regrettably have engaged in recent attempts to intimidate judges — for example, suggesting political bias in the judge's adverse rulings without a credible basis for such allegations," Roberts said

• "Within the past year we also have seen the need for state and federal bar associations to come to the defense of a federal district judge whose decisions in a high-profile case prompted an elected official to call for her impeachment," he wrote.
• "Attempts to intimidate judges for their rulings in cases are inappropriate and should be vigorously opposed," Roberts added.
• "Public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others."

Read the 2024 Year End Report on the Federal Judiciary in full, via DocumentCloud:

Flashback: Chief Justice John Roberts urges "humility" on AI

It was a good year for AI-linked companies in 2024, as they led the stock market with eye-watering returns.

• Execution problems plagued some well-known businesses, though, causing their shares to sink.

Why it matters: Those AI names helped the S&P 500 to its best two-year gain since the dot-com bubble of the late 1990s.

By the numbers: Nine S&P 500 stocks doubled in value (or more) this year, while four lost at least half their value.

• Three AI-linked stocks topped the list: Software company Palantir gained more than 340%; Vistra, a power producer that serves data centers, rose almost 260%; and chipmaker Nvidia gained more than 170%.
• If the bottom of the list has a theme, it's execution. Walgreens Boots Alliance (closing stores, heavily indebted, possibly for sale) lost more than 64% of its value. Intel (sinking AI market share, heavy layoffs) shed more than 60%, and Moderna (pulling back on new vaccines as COVID revenue tails off) dropped almost 60%.

Yes, but: Past performance does not guarantee future results.

• While AI names led the market this year, tech stocks have pulled back of late, with the Nasdaq down about 4% in just the last two weeks.
• The vast majority of the year's top gainers were down on the last trading day of 2024.

Several photographers spoke with Axios to reflect on a year full of stunning photos.

Why it matters: News photographers capture key moments and emotions that enhance the storytelling and provide insight into the larger context of an event.

Anna Moneymaker's photo from the Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, shown above, made headlines around the world earlier this year.

• "I think what is interesting from the whole historic event is how I was one of four photographers in the buffer for his rally and not one photographer got the same picture as the other. We all had different angles, and that shows the importance of multiple visual journalists being present for campaign events so that every angle can be documented," says Moneymaker.

"Most photographers had no idea what was happening as they were focused on the trophy celebration. Swift quickly moved to a restricted access portion behind the stage. I thought this could be bad for visuals, but still forced my way as close to the barricade as I could," says Patrick Smith.

• "Not long after, Travis Kelce had made his way to her. Then it happened. A hug. A whisper. A snuggle. A kiss. A lot of smiles."
• "It was more than a kiss or embrace — it was a moment that humanized these larger-than-life celebrities and something the world had been waiting to see."

"By February 2024, scenes like this were a near-daily occurrence at Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital in Rafah," says Ahmad Hasaballah.

• "This man is mourning his daughter, Kenzi Abdel Rahman Jumah, who was killed in a house hit by an Israeli strike. More than half of Gaza's population were clustered in Rafah at this point in the war, as Israel's campaign against Hamas pushed farther south. The experience of covering such farewell moments was very moving as a photographer living in Gaza."
• "I expected that one day I would photograph my family in this situation, which happened when I photographed the farewell of my cousin, who was killed near Khan Yunis. I later lost my father in this war, although I did not get to see him and say goodbye to him. I knew the meaning of loss."

"When I'm covering hurricanes, I am always trying to show the people who are affected by the storms," says Joe Raedle.

• "This moment came when I was driving through a neighborhood after Hurricane Helene had passed through, and I was looking to capture images that showed the power of the winds. The jumble of power lines and the lone figure walking near them was a juxtaposition that I felt showed this. The images we capture and transmit in real time during and after natural disasters can, hopefully, help bring the needed emergency relief for the areas and the people affected by the disasters."

"I live almost two hours from Altoona, where Luigi Mangione was recognized and captured at a McDonald's," says Jeff Swensen.

• "A defining moment can be a facial expression or even body language, and Luigi has captivated an audience and attracted attention to the health care system in America. The perp walk in NYC on Dec. 19 was diametrically different than the brief second in a garage behind a courthouse in the middle of Pennsylvania. This image here with just his eyes and eyebrows shown was reminiscent of what we had all seen while they were searching for him."

The National Football League's biggest rule change in 2024 was about ownership, not kickoffs, as it allowed private equity into the ranks.

The big picture: NFL clubs have become too valuable for most billionaires to buy on their own.

• Adding private equity could cause more teams to change hands by expanding the pool of potential buyers and prompting some owners to hang "for sale" signs.

By the numbers: The average NFL franchise is worth $5.7 billion, according to Forbes. And teams typically sell for more than the Forbes valuation.

• There are fewer than 200 Americans with net worths of at least $5.7 billion — around a dozen of whom already are NFL owners, per Forbes.
• Now subtract those whose wealth is mostly illiquid or who have no interest in the NFL (e.g., Robert Smith). The universe of viable NFL owners gets very small, very fast.
• For context, only two NBA teams and one Major League Baseball team are valued above $5.7 billion by Forbes.

Zoom in: Enter private equity, which now can own up to 10% of each club.

• That's a significant chunk, on top of other financing alternatives like bank loans and cobbling together groups of other wealthy individuals (e.g., how Josh Harris bought the Washington Commanders).
• In the meantime, private equity's two initial forays into NFL ownership have provided partial liquidity for existing owners, who can use that money for everything from refurbishing stadiums to buying new yachts. Expect many more of those deals.

The bottom line: NFL ownership has long been dominated by individuals and their families. Times are changing.

Major energy companies doubled down on oil and gas in 2024, slowing down — and at times reversing — climate commitments, in a shift they're likely to stick with in 2025.

Why it matters: Big European energy companies that invested heavily in the clean energy transition found their stocks lagging U.S. rivals Exxon and Chevron, which kept their focus on oil and gas, Reuters reports.

• BP and Shell this year sharply slowed their plans to spend billions on wind and solar power projects and shifted spending to higher-margin oil and gas projects.

Between the lines: The big oil companies are focused on meeting customer demand and maximizing shareholder value, per Axios' Andrew Freedman. That has led them to focus more on their core fossil fuel businesses at a time of geopolitical strife.

• They haven't abandoned their forays into cleaner fuels, including through investments in climate tech companies.
• But some of their investments, including bets on hydrogen fuels, haven't panned out — reinforcing their pivot back to what they do best.

Reality check: Doubling down on fossil fuels complicates global efforts to meet the Paris climate targets, which the oil majors have committed to.

The bottom line: Oil companies this year were profitable — but not as profitable as in recent record years, when there were higher oil prices.

U.S. immigration courts are on pace to decide record numbers of deportation cases — and order the most removals in five years — under President Biden's push to fast-track asylum decisions.

Why it matters: The increases in the first two months of fiscal 2025, if they continue, will help reduce a backlog of 3.7 million immigration cases that could take four years to resolve.

• But Biden's fast-track system — in which immigration judges are hearing and ruling on asylum requests in a matter of minutes — stands to be overrun by President-elect Trump's plan for mass deportations.
• Without significant increases in immigration court personnel and other resources for asylum claims, Trump's plan to deport millions of undocumented immigrants could create decades-long backlogs in immigration courts.

By the numbers: Immigration courts are on pace to rule on 852,000 deportation cases from Oct. 1, 2024, to Sept. 30, 2025, according to an analysis of case data by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) at Syracuse University.

• That analysis reviewed the pace of court rulings in October and November, the first two months of the government's fiscal 2025.
• If that pace continues, immigration judges will rule on more deportation cases in 2025 than in any previous year.

Zoom in: So far in fiscal 2025, immigration judges have ordered removals or voluntary departures in 45% of the cases that came before them — up from 39% in 2024 and the highest rate since 2020.

• That means immigration courts are on pace to issue 383,400 orders for removals or voluntary departures in FY 2025.
• According to court records, only 0.7% of the most recent cases sought deportation orders based on any alleged crimes by an immigrant, apart from allegedly entering the U.S. illegally.

At the end of November, about 1.7 million out of the 3.7 million cases in the immigration courts' backlog were for asylum applicants awaiting hearings or decisions.

Zoom out: Immigration courts ruled in nearly 850,000 deportation cases in fiscal 2024, according to the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR).

• In those cases, 331,500 people were ordered to be deported or leave the U.S. voluntarily.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported more than 271,000 people last fiscal year — the most in nearly a decade, according to an annual report released this month.

• The report marked a 90% increase in deportations from 2023, even as Republicans assailed Biden as weak on the border during the presidential campaign.

Between the lines: The Biden administration launched a series of initiatives to speed up the pace of immigration court rulings.

• The administration in May unveiled its fast-tracked asylum system for people who recently had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border and were headed to any one of five major cities in the U.S.
• The plan allowed judges to more quickly reject some asylum candidates who were considered a threat to public safety or national security.
• The administration also adopted visa restrictions for Colombians and Nicaraguans in an attempt to target those who profit from migrant smuggling.

Illegal border crossings declined steadily in 2024 after a sharp drop at the start of the year, according to Department of Homeland Security data obtained by USA Today and CBS News.

What we're watching: Most of the nation's 734 immigration judges are seeking to reinstate their union ahead of the expected boom in cases once Trump launches his plan for mass deportations.

• The Trump-controlled Federal Labor Relations Authority stripped away the judges' union in 2020. The two sides could be headed for another legal showdown in the coming months.
• A federal appeals court said immigration judges were entitled to union representation.

This year's epic, relentless news cycles were driven by months of near-unprecedented political violence and uncertainty — plus the Olympics, according to Axios' annual analysis of Google Trends data.

Why it matters: Even in a wild election year, America's short attention span for news led to dramatic ups and downs in search trends as the media pivoted from one major story to the next.

The big picture: The Paris Games were the news event that saw the largest spike in interest compared to the others analyzed by Axios.

• The election itself — peaking on Nov. 5 — and the Pennsylvania assassination attempt targeting Donald Trump were runners-up.
• On the lighter side, the next two biggest peaks were for the total solar eclipse in April and Mike Tyson's return to boxing against YouTuber Jake Paul.

Zoom in: Only a small handful of people and news events managed to hold public attention over long-term periods.

• Trump, of course, was one of them. He became the first former president convicted of felony crimes, survived two assassination attempts and was the first Republican to win the popular vote in two decades.
• Attention on President Biden shot up after his catastrophic debate performance in June and peaked around July 21, when he dropped out of the race and endorsed Vice President Harris after weeks of not-so-private pushing from a prominent group of Democrats.
• Elon Musk attracted search interest all year — but it boomed in October and early November as he unleashed unprecedented sums of cash to get Trump elected and personally campaigned in Pennsylvania.
• Israel and Gaza received consistent attention year-round but was rarely the top search at any given moment.

Among celebrities and athletes, Taylor Swift once again commanded an outsize share of attention.

• The deaths of O.J. Simpson and former One Direction singer Liam Payne made them two of the most searched people of the year.
• Search interest in Sean "Diddy" Combs peaked twice, once when federal agents raided his home in March and again after federal prosecutors charged him with sex trafficking and racketeering in September.

What we're watching: Trump-driven news cycles — backed by the power of the White House bully pulpit — could be like nothing we've seen in the last four years.

Go deeper: Revisit the moments that shaped the election.

We know Elon Musk dominated the headlines in 2024, but the scale by which he overshadowed other CEOs is stunning.

Why it matters: It's a self-sustaining cycle — stories about Musk get clicks, and so publishers write more about Musk, who provides plenty of raw material.

• This year, however, the effect has become exponential.

By the numbers: Taboola, which powers advertising for thousands of websites, tracks views on news articles in its publisher network.

• Taboola's data, shared exclusively with Axios, shows Musk has outpaced his closest peers — Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg — for years, but the gap widened dramatically in 2024.
• Articles about Musk had 1.03 billion page views from Jan. 1 to Nov. 12 this year, up 120% from 2023 and 528% from 2022.
• Other CEOs are getting written about more, too, but their rates of annual growth (e.g. 85% for Bezos and 44% for Zuckerberg) don't come close.
• This year, traffic on Musk stories is almost 3x the total traffic on stories about the next nine most-read-about CEOs combined, per the Taboola data.

The bottom line: Don't expect anything to change anytime soon, as Musk's personal megaphones get louder by the day.

The U.S. is sending Ukraine $5.9 billion in military aid and budget support, the Biden administration announced on Monday.

Why it matters: It's part of President Biden's pledge for a "surge" in aid for Kyiv before he's succeeded by President-elect Trump, who's criticized the U.S. givingUkraine military assistance.

• "At my direction, the United States will continue to work relentlessly to strengthen Ukraine's position in this war over the remainder of my time in office," Biden said in a statement announcing $2.5 billion in security assistance for Kyiv on Monday.

Driving the news: The aid will include an additional $1.25 billion drawdown package for the Ukrainian military and a $1.22 billion Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative (USAI) package, per Biden's statement.

• Elsewhere, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen announced the U.S. has made available $3.4 billion in direct budget support for Ukraine, in coordination with the U.S. Agency for International Development and the State Department.

What he's saying: "I've directed my Administration to continue surging as much assistance to Ukraine as quickly as possible — including drawing down older U.S. equipment for Ukraine, rapidly delivering it to the battlefield, and then revitalizing the U.S. defense industrial base to modernize and replenish our stockpiles with new weapons," Biden said in his statement.

Go deeper: Biden pledges more U.S. arms to Ukraine after Russia's Christmas attack

A South Korean court approved an arrest warrant for impeached President Yoon Suk-Yeol on Tuesday morning local time, Yonhap News Agency first reported.

Why it matters: The warrant related to Yoon's brief martial law declaration this month that sparked widespread protests and shocked allies would mark the first time one has been issued for an incumbent president in South Korea, per local media.

Driving the news: The Corruption Investigation Office for High-ranking Officials confirmed in a media statement that Seoul Western District Court had approved the warrant.

The big picture: Yoon was impeached and suspended from presidential duties for his surprise martial law declaration, but he maintains he acted out of concerns about "pro-North Korean" elements when he made the emergency declaration.

• South Korean police announced earlier this month they were investigating Yoon for possible insurrection and he has, through his lawyers, denied the allegations.
• Yoon could face life in prison or the death penalty if he were charged and convicted of such offenses because presidential immunity doesn't extend to insurrection or treason in South Korea.

Go deeper: South Korean president hit with travel ban after martial law mayhem

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is not out of the woods in his fight to retain his gavel, even after receiving a crucial endorsement from President-elect Trump.

Why it matters: The Jan. 3 speaker election will now be an early test not only of Johnson's ability to lead his conference into the coming legislative battles — but of Trump's as well.

Driving the news: Trump said Monday in a post on Truth Social that Johnson is a "good, hard working, religious man" who has his "Complete & Total Endorsement."

• The endorsement came after weeks of right-wing anger toward Johnson for passing a government funding bill with bipartisan support.
• Trump himself was reportedly frustrated with Johnson for failing to tack on a debt limit increase — something he is still demanding before Jan. 20.

State of play: Johnson is set to have just a 219-215 majority when the House returns on Jan. 3, meaning he will likely only be able to lose one vote.

• Trump's endorsement pushed some uncommitted members, like Rep. Troy Nehls (R-Texas) and Josh Brecheen (R-Okla.), to back Johnson.
• But it hasn't swayed Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), the one House Republican who has said he plans to vote against Johnson.
• "I respect and support President Trump, but his endorsement of Mike Johnson is going to work out about as well as his endorsement of Speaker Paul Ryan," Massie said in a post on X.

Zoom in: Several other undecideds said Monday they, too, are unconvinced by Trump's support for Johnson.

• Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), who has a list of demands for Johnson on reducing government spending, said on X that "we still need to get assurances that [Johnson] won't sell us out to the swamp."
• Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) "still has not made any public or private commitments on Speaker Johnson," his spokesperson told Axios.
• "I'm undecided," said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who has stressed that Trump's endorsement would be decisive for Johnson's chances.
• House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), who has pushed Johnson to eschew dealmaking with Democrats, is "still undecided," his spokesperson said.

Zoom out: The incoming president maintains the strict loyalty of his party, but he has at times struggled to work his will on the legislative process.

• His backing of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) in 2023 did little to dislodge the Californian's right-wing detractors, who only relented after 15 grueling ballots.
• And just this month, 38 Republicans broke with their party and voted against a combined spending and debt limit bill that Trump had demanded — despite the threat of primary challenges.

What's next: Johnson will spend the four days trying to whip his last few holdouts as they demand spending and process-related concessions.

• He is making calls and reaching out to GOP lawmakers who have not yet committed to supporting him, sources familiar with the matter told Axios.

Editor's note: This story has been updated with additional reporting.

Hackers connected to China's government successfully breached several Treasury Department workstations and accessed unclassified documents, according to a letter to Congress on Monday.

Why it matters: The U.S. government is already scrambling to respond to an ongoing China-backed hack of American telecom networks that targeted several high-profile officials.

Zoom in: Aditi Hardikar, Treasury's assistant secretary for management, wrote in a letter to the Senate Banking Committee that the department was notified of a "major" cyber incident on Dec. 8.

• The hackers, which Treasury has linked to an unspecified Chinese state-sponsored hacking group, gained access to Treasury's networks via software service provider BeyondTrust, according to the letter.
• Chinese hackers stole a key that BeyondTrust uses to "secure a cloud-based service used to remotely provide technical support" for several Treasury Department users.
• The hackers were able to leverage that access to override BeyondTrust's security controls and access unclassified documents.
• A Treasury spokesperson said in a statement to Axios that the "compromised BeyondTrust service has been taken offline" and there is "no evidence indicating a threat actor has continued access to Treasury systems or information."

Catch up quick: Several BeyondTrust customers are responding to breaches involving the cybersecurity vendor's tools.

• BeyondTrust has said that hackers targeted a "limited number" of customers using its Remote Support SaaS tool.
• The company has revoked the stolen key and notified all known impacted customers.

The big picture: China has been escalating its cyberattacks against the United States.

• Last week, a Biden administration official said the number of U.S. telcos hacked in the Salt Typhoon breach had increased to nine.
• U.S. officials have also been working with critical infrastructure organizations to kick out the Volt Typhoon group — which officials say has spent at least five years exploring vulnerabilities in routers, firewalls and VPNs to target water, transportation, energy and communications systems across the country.

What's next: Treasury said in the letter that it is actively working with the FBI, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency and the intelligence community to investigate the breach.

What they're saying: The Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C., issued a media statement accusing the U.S. of "smear attacks."

• CISA referred all questions to the Treasury Department.

More from Axios:

• Telcos struggle to boot Chinese hackers from networks
• Chinese hacking "typhoons" threaten U.S. infrastructure
• U.S. sanctions, charges Chinese hacker for infecting firewalls

Editor's note: This article has been updated with comment from the Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C.